New Audi R8 Wins A 24-Hour Race Before It Even Goes On Sale

The Nürburgring — the “Green Hell” in Jackie Stewart’s famous phrase — is simultaneously a proving ground, an iconic racetrack, and a death trap. Since the track was completed in the 1920s, more than 65 competitors have died in professional races; many more have done so on racing privately, and in March a spectator died after a car flew off one of the track’s 160 turns.

None of which stopped more than 200,000 people from descending on the tiny town of Nürburg earlier this month to celebrate, cheer and drink their way through one of racing’s wilder days, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.  

Over the weekend, 152 racers in twelve classes pushed themselves and their machines to the limit around the 15.5-mile course, and it was there that Audi gave a sneak peek of what is to come for the new 2016 Audi R8 road car.

It’s common for automakers to insist that their race cars share parts of their streetside cousins — when in fact the two are essentially different species under the decals.  Not so in Audi’s case, where the car that won the race on Sunday shares 50 percent of its components with the road-going 2016 R8.

Everything from the naturally aspirated V-10 engine to the chassis is the exact same as the one that will be offered on the 2016 R8, and in its first high-endurance test the car performed perfectly. The race version starts its life on the R8 production line in Germany. While the engine that performed in the 24-hour race was limited to 500 horsepower due to race rules, the production engine in the Euro-spec version is already confirmed at 602 horsepower.